This reset started with me punching the wall and regretting it immediately when said wall spewed forth its retribution in the form of dust and debris. Coughing and sputtering I sat down and tried to suppress my growing desire to cry. It just felt so unfair! finally finding a way out only for some impossible task to keep me from getting out.

I had lost count of just how many times this place had killed me. But what if the whole world was like this? what if I would just die and die and die over and over again with no rest again.

What if my family... my ma? my pa? my brother? what if they were all dead? Dropped in a place just like this or worse... what if they too were undying? I imagined my brother who had eyes so full of hope dead to the world because of so much death. That alone made me almost wish for him to have a quick death instead. It was terrible thought and I felt ashamed immediately for thinking it.

So I decided to look around for some fresh distraction. That was when I noticed the gleaming metal of the soldiers' spear right next to me. For a moment I panicked wondering if something had gone wrong with the rest. However, after a quick stab through the head of a reider I had confirmed that events most preceded as normal. The only difference being the spear.

What confused me though was that while I had the spear. In none of my resets did I get to keep the stick nor had this reset let me keep the helmet. There were two possible reasons I could think of. one was that I could only keep weapons that were of a certain quality. two was that I only could keep weapons that were somehow part of a quest. Truthfully I didn't find the second to be likely after all that would suggest the system only wanted me to use quest items. Considering I got to keep my jeans, Tshirt, and shoes made for some convincing evidence that was not the case. That might not seem like compelling evidence but my reasons were simple. If the system really wanted me to only use things I had gained from quests or used to fulfill a quest it would have summoned me here naked. That would have forced me to begin to immediately search for clothes and some hidden quest would have been fulfilled as a result.

After killing off the goblin in the room I took a few hours to plan. I doubted I could fight the large Reider and win, yet if I wanted out I needed to do just that. That meant I needed to get stronger, which meant more levels and more fighting. Secondly, I needed more experience. Third, I needed better armor. Without achieving all three I didn't have a chance in hell of killing that colossal beast outside. That was how I found myself heading into the dark abyss after having slayed all the goblins on the first floor. As I went I carefully checked each room for gear or enemies. the second floor only had 2 goblins which were quickly dispatched 1 by 1 with some thrusts of my spear. The goblins weren't exactly smart, and if it was just one I could kill them with contemptuous ease. I found a knapsack that fit snugly around my waist. Rummaging through I found some awful-smelling liquid in a glass container that listed it as a "healing tear" I threw the foul mixture away. No way in hell was I going to drink that shit.

Carefully making my way down to the third floor, things began to get really dark and I regretted not getting some kind of torch. Still, if I died I would remember to try making one before coming down here. As my foot crested the floor, my only warning was the scuffling of feet as the now familiar furry forms of 2 no 3 goblins rushed me.

To my surprise, I stepped back and barely avoid a dagger to the throat however that gave the other two time to stab me in the gut. This time as I came down a torch lit the way and dodged to the side as the goblins rushed me. The battle raged for 3 minutes as I ducked and stumbled my way from the quick strikes and jabs the goblins tried to hit me with. I tried to stab at one of the goblins closest to me but it rolled to the side and lunged at me. I meant its lunge with a head butt and as my visions swam, I stabbed downward at its wriggling form. Turning towards the others I activated [Void Thrust] increasing the distance my spear could strike which caught the first off guard as a horizontal slash opened its throat. The skill was odd as it didn't feel like my spear grew longer but rather that distance itself was speared through when I channeled void energy into the attack. Unfortunately, the last goblin hadn't been caught in the slash and it jumped toward me trying to cut my arm. I bat it aside with the spear and slammed the monster to the ground with the same motion before twisting the spear in my hand so I could gore it through the stomach.

It was not as if I was an expert at fighting with a spear. It was more like the spear was a part of me and it was easy to get it to move in the ways I wanted it to. I had almost been cut twice during that fight and if they hadn't rushed me but instead surrounded me the fight would have been my loss. I needed to get better at fighting and I felt that doing so through trial and error was going to weaken me in the future. Still, it wasn't really like I had a better option.

Still, I took the moment to experiment with [void thrust] after I had confirmed that there were no more monsters on this floor. After a few thrusts, I learned that there was no limit to how far I could make the spear reach. The issue had come when I started to channel too much void energy, I'd expected to feel drained but it was the opposite. It felt more like I had become bloated and sick. After a few minutes, the feeling went away.

The next flight of stairs was trickier as I had to be careful of broken pieces and weak areas of the staircase. My light shone off something as I made it halfway down. It was a bronze plate built into the wall itself with words that filled me with no minor amount of hope. "3rd floor: Armor and Weapon testing". The first time I had come through this floor it had been in a mad dash. This time though I took my time exploring. Hoping to find something anything. "GAH!!!" I yelped in surprise as the blue screen once again simply appeared in front of my face with no warning. The system was such an asshole.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Quest started!

An old gift undelivered!

Defeat the Iron Spider Queen and reclaim the ancient gift.

Reward: Magical cloak and Skirt.

Penalty for failure. Death.

Error death not suitable punishment

Error error

Penatly for failure changed to permanent -1 to all stats. Failure condition changed to 3 deaths.

I screamed in frustration. It was clear now to me the system really really wanted to screw me over. Not only was it forcing me to face what sounded like a really tough opponent it also limited my one ace in the hole that would have allowed me to easily win. The rational part of my brain understood that the system clearly wanted me to get those items and anything less than this would stop me from even attempting to do so. Still, it was extremely annoying for the system to order me around after dropping me in this godawful death trap of a ruin.

Searching around I found a room marked "Magical Thread Experimentation room." that is where I saw what might be the most terrifying sight in my life. The room was covered in dried and old blood as skeletons long since fully decayed covered and littered the floor. In the center of the room was a large spider made from faintly glowing iron thread. The Monster didn't seem to have any eyes but that just made the thing even creepier.

At the far end of the wall behind the spider was an assortment of destroyed fabrics and tasteful outfits. The centerpiece being a red low-cut skirt with wavy frills at the bottom for modesty. Alongside a black cloak with flowers adorning its sides. I had a feeling those were the supposed gifts. Still, I hesitated at the door. I had only 3 shots at this and could not afford to lose because something had just occurred to me. What would happen to me if my stats went below zero!? It was something I did not want to find out. So I took my time studying the environment and trying to see if I could puzzle out any weaknesses of the spider. After a bit of deliberation, I had to face the fact that I would need to die fighting it at least once to figure out what worked best on the beast. Though I could be a lot more prepared then I was.

So I wandered the halls and found some useful trinkets here and there. The most useful of which was a flower that through the lab notes I'd found had told me would heal whoever wore it over time. So I put the flower in my hair which I admit I did because it made me feel pretty and that was a good feeling in this hell hole so sue me! I had also accidentally made myself extremely mad at my past self that damn dumbass bitch! turns out that the awful-smelling "healing tears" were actually an extremely potent healing liquid that could even heal lost limbs... supposedly. The other places had useful items but either they had been ransacked, were unfinished projects, or like some of the swords were somewhat useless to me. I had found 3 more "healing tears" in the alchemy lab where I had found the flower but other than that the only useful thing id found were the research books each room had. I couldn't figure out most of what any of it meant but I figured I could at least sell them when I got out of here. Should at least pay for a meal.

With myself as geared as I could be I walked into the room where the spider lay dormant. the moment I made it halfway through I saw the spider blur as it moves faster than my eyes could follow and only instinct save my life as I blocked it with my spear. The moment of the strike forced me to my knees and tried to stab at it cutting some of its string away. The revelation that I could damage the thing was good new but the bad news was the thing moved way too fast. I tried a [void thrust] and caught the spidery beast by surprise cutting most of the iron string off its legs. The thing stopped before it glowed red hot and an uneasy feeling perpetuated my guts I rolled to the side before a ray of fire blasted the area I had been. Were the beam stuck wall was only a melted hole.

GOD DAMMIT THE THING COULD USE MAGIC!!!! fucking magic. because of course, it could. I was making a new rule for myself if it didn't have minions it had some other bullshit to ruin my day. a fought and blocked its speedy attacks but while its movements were robotic and easy to figure out, it was still hard to get the timing down.

[void thrust] after [void thrust] was activated as it was the only way I could hit the damn thing since it couldn't predict where the strike would hit it. Still, each attack weakened me and had my knees buckle. At one point during the fight, the strain of trying to block the spider caused the bones in my leg to shatter and I had to quickly use a "healing tear" to replace the damage. finally, the creature seemed to have had enough and with a screech of metal on metal its torso opened up its strings zipped out like bullets from a gun quickly encircling my throat and arms.

I let out a weak "oh, fuck you." through choking breaths as the creature spun on the floor my arms and head going with it.